Buy it... if you can forgive a surprisingly unsatisfying
arrangement and flawed performances of Danny Elfman's two scores for
this franchise.

Avoid it... if you already own the superior Batman Forever
performances from this ensemble on the "Hollywood '95" compilation from
the same label and have no interest in hearing a butchering of Elfman's
material.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #1,268

WRITTEN
7/11/03, REVISED 4/3/09

BUY IT

(9.99)

Elfman

Goldenthal

McNeely

The Batman Trilogy: (Compilation) With the
franchise at its financial peak in the middle of the 1990's, it wasn't
foreseen that the fourth film would dig the grave of the Tim Burton and
Joel Schumacher phase of the series so thoroughly. Danny Elfman had
burst onto all-time sales charts for soundtrack albums with his
magnificently constructed music for the original Batman and had
provided an even darker second chapter for Batman Returns that
remains a favorite for many of his devoted fans. Amid disgust and
protests, Elfman walked away from Batman Forever and Elliot
Goldenthal's work for Demolition Man netted him the
responsibility of taking the franchise's music forward. Goldenthal's
minimal adaptation of Elfman's theme (consisting of a commonly rising
two-note major key phrase at the end of both composers' themes), as well
as his less gothic, stylistically schizophrenic approach to the series
suffered from the same dismissal from mainstream listeners, especially
with Burton and Elfman enthusiasts continuing their assault against
Goldenthal's contribution for several years. Goldenthal's music never
flew off the shelves in album form the way Elfman's music had, and by
the time Batman & Robin hit the theatres, no bother was even made
to release Goldenthal's score. For the original franchise, 1997 marked
the death of the viability of Gotham City on the big screen (it would be
eight years before Christopher Nolan could resurrect the concept and
reboot it), and it was in the waning days of this sad realization that
Varèse Sarabande collaborated with the Royal Scottish National
Orchestra and Chorus to perform music from the first three films of the
series. The RSNO had performed several classic scores under the
direction of composer Joel McNeely by the time of this album's release,
and the group would go on to perform similar projects for a few more
years. The quality of their performances of film music is often
excellent, especially in capturing the spirit of Bernard Herrmann
scores.

They had already performed a suite of music from
Batman Forever that was personally arranged by Goldenthal,
appearing on the "Hollywood '95" album released by the same label. To
fill an album with music from the opening years of the Batman
franchise, Varèse Sarabande commissioned the RSNO in a effort to
record pieces from Elfman's two scores and the original television
theme. Despite the concurrent release of Batman & Robin,
Varèse worked backwards rather than forwards and the fourth and
final score is unfortunately missing from this album (a shame,
considering its superiority over its predecessor and lack of
availability). While, as mentioned before, the performances by the RSNO
are often stellar, they do sometimes have their misses. Many film music
collectors agree that the "Hollywood '95" album was the best of the
label's series of yearly summary compilations, partly due to the
masterful choice of material to be represented from Batman
Forever and partly because Joel McNeely and the RSNO nailed the
essence of Goldenthal's music (even providing an extra element of
listenability to it by dropping or de-emphasizing the wavering brass
effects). The same exact recording of Batman Forever appears on
this album, and it is once again the highlight. Re-recordings of
Batman are pretty common, though Batman Returns remains
largely uninterpreted by other ensembles. Elfman fans will likely be
disappointed, however, by the imprecise and clumsy performances of
Elfman's two scores here. The arrangement of Batman is severely
altered from the original score, and the curious part of this awkward
presentation is that it doesn't always assist the listening experience
as a concert suite. If you take Elfman's original "Music for a Darkened
Theatre" album as an example of how he would arrange a suite from the
film himself, then you begin to realize how strange the one for the RSNO
is. The concert version of Batman's finale is arguably less
powerful than the film version, losing the power of its concluding
crescendo in its elongated form.

Some of the original score's best moments are simply
omitted from the nine tracks presented here, which is awkward. The
performances themselves range from adequate to nearly unlistenable, with
several key brass notes missed and other motifs simply omitted. The
mixing of the orchestra overemphasizes the brass and percussion and
ignores some of Elfman's finer touches with the strings and particularly
the woodwinds (flute accents on the top are completely swallowed up by
the rest of the ensemble). The same difficulty exists with the Batman
Returns selections (which at least do cover the best portions of the
score), with the proper instrumentation simply missing from the equation
altogether (such as the mandatory organ). Thus, the performance is
stripped down and lacking in the emotional weight that Elfman used to
solidify his original recordings. The mix of the xylophone is painfully
loud (so much so that the instrument is almost unrecognizable in its
ear-shattering tone during the "End Credits") and the choir's singing is
not fluid enough to suffice. The tempo on the Elfman scores is often far
too slow, conveying to two title sequences at a lethargic pace. There
are a few individual highlights, including the arrangement of "Selina
Transforms" and the wicked percussion in several of the performances,
including the "End Credits" piece from Batman Returns. On the
whole, from the point of view of a casual listener of Batman
music, the RSNO simply blew it with Elfman's material. It's a rare total
loss for the ensemble. The quality of the performances increases
suddenly with Batman Forever, and the album offers a token,
spirited performance of the original 1960's television theme (which is
rearranged considerably as well). Overall, serious enthusiasts of
Batman music should hesitate before purchasing this album. It's
obviously incomplete in retrospect, missing some of the more popular and
rare music from the franchise. Other ensembles have better performed the
original Batman theme, and what exists here from Batman
Returns doesn't warrant a purchase, especially if you already have
the Batman Forever material from the excellent "Hollywood '95"
compilation. **@Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:

For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.22
(in 74 reviews)and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 130,161 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

For Elliot Goldenthal reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.13
(in 16 reviews)and the average viewer rating is 3.12
(in 15,987 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.